Top Women in Construction 2021: Companies to Watch

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WINNER: Missy Guerrero Scherber, Owner and president, T. Scherber

To see what Missy Scherber is all about, just go to Instagram. The hashtag #wcw used to designate Woman Crush Wednesday, but Scherber has been sharing stories of women in construction every Wednesday to transform it to Women in Construction Wednesday. Her goal was to increase women’s visibility in a largely male-dominated field.

But Scherber hasn’t limited her efforts to social media. In 2009, Scherber founded T. Scherber with her husband, Trevor. The company began as a roll-off and hauling company, then expanded into demolition and other services in 2013. From the beginning, Scherber was determined that it would not only provide better service, but also walk the talk of diversity and inclusion.o see what Missy Scherber is all about, just go to Instagram. The hashtag #wcw used to designate Woman Crush Wednesday, but Scherber has been sharing stories of women in construction every Wednesday to transform it to Women in Construction Wednesday. Her goal was to increase women’s visibility in a largely male-dominated field.

As president of the company, Scherber wears a lot of hats. She manages business development, of course, and has amassed a respectable 45 percent annual growth rate on average. She also oversees accounting, purchasing, permitting, HR and safety.

Demolition and hauling might not seem like a ripe field for innovation, but Scherber’s company (slogan: “Doing dirty jobs differently”) has embraced technology, especially the cloud, to distinguish T. Scherber from its competitors. T. Scherber’s entire fleet has GPS capabilities, and by integrating its processes with the cloud, its communication between the field and customers has improved.

Operating in a male-dominated business, Scherber hired a woman to train and lead her drivers. The commitment to diversity paid off in 2020, when T. Scherber earned WBE, MBE, and SBE status, which Scherber hopes will lead to more work in public, federal, and larger commercial projects.

The company’s day-to-day work spans the Twin Cities area and more. It helped with wetland restoration in Medina and helped with the foundations of numerous homes on Lake Minnetonka’s shores — including the historic site of the Pillsbury Mansion on Bracketts Point. The company also provided excavation and utility work at a development at 51st and France in Edina, the AutoMotorPlex Medina and a BP gas station in Long Lake.

Before her construction career, Scherber was a major donor officer for several nonprofits in Chicago and the Twin Cities. So it’s only fitting that giving back is important to T. Scherber. The company donates $25 of every demolition service and $5 from each “Do Good” dumpster disposal to Children’s Hospital of Minnesota, FreedomFarm Therapeutic Riding Center, Urban Ventures, and Folds of Honor, which provides educational scholarships to family members of fallen or disabled military servicemembers.

FINALISTS

Tracy Dahlin

President, Iron River Construction

Tracy Dahlin has been around the block in the construction world. She’s owned and operated Iron River Construction for 21 years, and it shows.

Chaska-based Iron River has been around since 1992. The company does roofing, siding and remodeling, and Dahlin has done roof inspection, insurance adjusting, and other work during her long tenure as the company’s owner.

During the pandemic, Dahlin worked to keep her own employees safe from the virus, designing company COVID protocols to govern how they worked on jobs.

But she was not only a business owner; she was also the board chair for the Contractor’s Association of Minnesota. That meant that Dahlin had to look out for more than her own business.

Other business owners contacted her to ask about safety practices, supply shortages, and other matters related to the pandemic, and she readily shared her expertise and knowledge to help them out.

Erika Scherman

President, MC Tool and Safety

The pandemic was hard on sales that rely on relationships. But Erika Scherman wasn’t going to let that stop her.

Scherman is president of MC Tool and Safety, an industrial and safety equipment supplier for contractors. She was used to relationship-based sales after years as a purveyor of craft beers, wines and spirits, as well as a stint selling eco-friendly and low-chemical cleaning supplies.

But the pandemic upended that sales method, and Scherman had to lead her company through a transition to online sales. She quickly led the way to an updated website with search engine optimization supported by online marketing and advertising.

Scherman intends to continue valuing and maintaining relationships, keeping her prices reasonable for small crews as well as large general contractors and even sending customers to competitors if they have what the customer needs.

“We are here to make sure the job gets done with everyone getting home safely every night,” she says.

Nawal Noor

Founder and CEO, Noor Construction

Nawal Noor came to America from Somalia in 1996 at age 12 and lived with an aunt. She graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 2005, but even before that she had kicked off a career by working in nonprofit affordable housing while in college.

After nine years at Ecolab in positions of increasing responsibility, Noor was ready to head out on her own. She founded Noor Construction in 2015. Among her goals: to diversify Minnesota’s construction workforce and provide a second chance to ex-offenders.

Noor’s company handled the project to remodel Hennepin County Library’s aging and historic Hosmer branch in south Minneapolis two years ago, as well as the East Lake Street Target in Minneapolis and Gordon Parks High School in St. Paul.

She serves on numerous boards, including the Friends of Hennepin County Library, the Hennepin Healthcare Community Advisory Board, and the State of Minnesota Emerging Entrepreneur Board. In 2019, she was a Bush Foundation Fellow.

Nancy St. Germaine

Owner, Raven Construction

Nancy St. Germaine is many things: Realtor, activist, mother, general contractor, construction business owner. She’s also a member of the Turtle Mountain band of Ojibwe.

St. Germaine founded Raven Construction in 2015. The company has done significant work on commercial or production kitchens, though it has also helped several small businesses and nonprofits to build their first space in Minneapolis.

St. Germaine graduated from Portland State University in Oregon in 2005 with a B.S. in community and economic development. Over the next few years, she learned the ropes of both real estate and construction in her work as a project manager and property manager.

Her activist side comes out in many ways. One of them was consulting with the Lake Street Council. She refers businesses damaged in the unrest after George Floyd’s murder to minority-owned businesses that could make repairs. Similarly, she’s the real estate director for the Creative Enterprise Zone in St. Paul, which attempts to promote economic development in the Raymond-University area of St. Paul.

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